Windows 2.x

Windows 2.x
	Version of Microsoft Windows
OS family	16-bit Windows
Version	2.x
Codename
Preliminary name	Windows 1.5
Architecture	x86 16-bit
Latest build
Release date	1988-05-27
Support end	2001-12-31
Replaces
	Windows 1.0
Replaced by
	Windows 3.0

Windows 2.0 is the second major version of Microsoft Windows. It was the first version to introduce support for enhanced features found in Intel's i386 processors. To differentiate it between the 8086-compatible version of Windows 2.x, the i386 version was sold and marketed separately under the "Windows/386" label. Two revisions of Windows 2.x exist, the original revision (2.0x) in generic 8086 and i386 variants, and a second revision (2.1x) that introduced 286 and i386-specific variants, marketed as "Windows/286" and "Windows/386" respectively. It was the successor to Windows 1.0 and was succeeded with Windows 3.0.

As of 2021, no pre-release builds of Windows 2.x have leaked, and some retail versions remain unverified.

New features[edit | edit source]

Windows 2.0 introduced support for overlapping windows for all window variants (Windows 1.0 only supported overlapping of dialog windows). This fired a legal conflict with Apple Inc., accusing Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard of violating copyrights Apple held on Macintosh System Software. The judge ruled in favor of Microsoft and HP in all but ten of the 189 patents Apple sued for, which according to the judge couldn't be copyrighted.^[1]

This version of Windows also introduced support for VGA (Video Graphics Array) displays and PS/2 mice in the retail release, although drivers for Windows 1.0 have already been available in IBM's OEM release. It is possible to use the PS/2 mouse driver from Windows 2.03 with Windows 1.0, which enables one to use the virtual mouse emulated by many virtualization packages.

Control Panel myth[edit | edit source]

There is a myth that this version is the first to include the Control Panel, which also appeared on Microsoft's website.^[2] The Control Panel was already included with Windows 1.0 Development Release 5, compiled over 3 years before Windows 2.0 was released.